Expedia, Yelp, Angi, and Square are building agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for Amazon’s Alexa+. The new integrations are set to debut on the virtual assistant device next year, Amazon wrote on its blog Tuesday (Dec. 23). “We understand that a truly useful personal assistant...
American consumers spent more this holiday season while using cross-channel shopping and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for bargain hunting and convenience, according to separate analyses by Mastercard and Visa. Mastercard SpendingPulse found that U.S. retail sales excluding automotive increased 3.9% year over year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21,...
Saks Global is considering bankruptcy while facing a $100 million-plus debt payment, Bloomberg reported Monday (Dec. 22). The luxury retail group is also mulling other ways to boost liquidity, such as raising emergency funding or selling off assets, according to the report, which cited unnamed...
As peak holiday demand stretches supply chains to their limits, global retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target are leaning heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to move goods faster, reduce errors and protect workers from physically demanding tasks. What was once experimental technology has...
Instacart is suspending its price testing practice on its grocery delivery platform, according to a Monday (Dec. 22) company blog post. The announcement followed the Dec. 9 publication of an investigation by Consumer Reports in partnership with advocacy groups Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union...
Retailers are moving quickly to tighten control over how consumers pay, as new PYMNTS Intelligence data shows embedded finance shifting from a background capability to a frontline business priority. According to “Retailers Expand Embedded Finance to Unlock Control and Customization,” a November 2025 PYMNTS Intelligence report...
Retailers are no longer treating embedded finance as a checkout enhancement. The data show it is becoming a tool for control over customer relationships, compliance exposure and operational tempo across the retail stack. That is the central takeaway from “Retailers Expand Embedded Finance to Unlock Control...
Amazon Business is offering new benefits to members of its Business Prime program. The tech giant announced Thursday (Dec. 18) that these small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can now access benefits from Intuit Quickbooks, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike and human resources and payroll platform Gusto. “Small business owners wear a lot...
Among retail’s most dominant themes in 2025 was that the next era of competition is about ecosystem control, not just operational excellence. As 2026 approaches, Walmart and Amazon are focused on building monetization layers that sit on top of commerce: advertising, data, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven...